“Saying What You Must:” Free Poetry Workshop at Fayette County Public Library

Starting Monday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m.

The Fayette County Public Library invites adults and high school students to participate in a free four-week poetry writing workshop titled “Saying What You Must.” The course takes place at the library on four consecutive Monday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., starting on Monday, September 13 and running through Monday, October 4. The workshop is free and open to the public, but space in the class is limited, so advance enrollment is strongly encouraged. Please call the library at 770-461-8841 or sign up in person by Tuesday, September 7.

The workshop includes study of the work of several contemporary poets, including Mary Oliver, Elizabeth Bishop, Ted Kooser, William Carlos Williams, James Wright, Czeslaw Milosz, Robert Bly, Anne Sexton, Lucille Clifton, William Stafford, Raymond Carver, Maxine Kumin, and Wendell Berry, among others. Participants in the course will explore the basic elements and devices that poetry employs. But mostly they will write—both in and out of class—and share new writing with one another in a supportive atmosphere.

“Saying What You Must” is facilitated by Sara DeLuca, a Fayette County resident who has led several poetry and memoir workshops in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Georgia over the past 15 years. Ms. DeLuca’s poetry has been featured in numerous literary journals, including Emory University’s “Lullwater Review.” Her poetry collection, “Songs From an Inland Sea,” was published by Acorn Whistle Press in 1998. She is also the author of a girlhood memoir, “Dancing the Cows Home,” published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. This story has been adapted for the stage, and produced by theatres in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is scheduled for production by West Georgia Children’s Theatre in Hogansville next summer.

Suggested reading for participants in “Saying What You Must” includes two well-known poetry texts: “A Poetry Handbook” by Mary Oliver, and “How To Read A Poem and Fall In Love With Poetry” by Edward Hirsch. Copies of both books are available for checkout at the Fayette County Public Library.

The Fayette County Public Library is located behind the Fayette County administrative complex in downtown Fayetteville, at the southwest corner of Highways 85 and 54. For additional information, please contact the library at 770-461-8841.